I don't think that game has anything that requires analog precision, does it? If it's all digital, then anything will go - gamepad, keyboard, stick; whatever works for you.

I do recall the controls were pretty sluggish. Not Prince of Persia 3D grade of sluggish, but not far from it.

I play the classic TR's using a playstation emulator and I'm not sure have I ever even tried them on PC, but knowing how the game controls I would recommend either using keyboard or some other controller than x360, their d-pad is pretty bad.

Edit: Oh, and in case you actually tried to use the analog sticks for control, forget it. Use digital only.

Did tomb raider even officially support a joystick when released? I only ever played with Keyboard.

I literally cannot play those games properly with anything other than the keyboard. Even the later Angel of Darkness which supported mouse, I stuck with just the keyboard.

Those controls become 2nd nature after a while. I can't get used to playing console versions with a gamepad.

I guess it's easy to forget this game came out in 96 or whatever. I'll have to be patient and just keep working it with the keyboard.